


Interstellar Collection

by Koayyy



Category: Inazuma Eleven
Genre: Additional Warnings In Author's Note, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-05-22
Updated: 2018-10-12
Packaged: 2018-11-03 16:07:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 5,880
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10970697
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Koayyy/pseuds/Koayyy
Summary: Oneshot series centered around Fubuki and Gouenji, includes but is not limited to romance.(Happy Goufubu day!!)





	1. Gate

**Author's Note:**

> (1) Gate
> 
> Summary: Fubuki always wondered when the gate would open again, but he didn’t expect to get everyone caught up in this mess.
> 
> Words: 3253
> 
> Warnings/ Notes: Concept is taken from Kobayashi’s Maid Dragon. Basically, Fubuki’s a dragon in hiding. This was originally about Fubuki and his struggle to keep his identity a secret (Aka angst galore) but my files were eaten by my computer ><;;; This first one is probably the pinnacle of my self-indulgence, so be warned. 
> 
> Some characters from said series appear as well. Skip this if you feel is necessary.
> 
> Tags: Alternate Universe, "Secret" crush, Mutually unrequited love,

The FFI, Fubuki thinks, gets repetitive very easily.

He figures it’s mostly because of practice. Because no matter how much he does it, it’s not like he can power up anyway. Which is why he fakes the growth of his strength by unsealing his strength a little bit more each time. Just to make sure he doesn’t get caught by Kudou or anyone else on the team. (Or the managers as well. They already know about his crush, and that’s already too much information)

Which is also why he catches himself thinking more and more about the situation on other side of the gate that his other friends -previously- stayed at. Sure, the other world was frankly a lot more troublesome than this one, but it was certainly a lot more interesting than the repetitive days between matches he’s currently suffering through.

He catches himself spacing out during practice and requests for a small break. When he’s given the okay, he walks towards the bench to grab a towel and his bottle of water. He was doing much worse today for some reason and he blames it on his weird gut feeling he’s had since he woke up today.

He just had this sinking feeling that something was going to happen.

And as if to answer those strange feelings, he senses magic.

Not a second later, he feels the gate open up in the sky above the forest beside the Japan area. He turns his head in the direction to try and get a glimpse of what was coming out from it, but it closed as soon as it opened and he didn’t know what or who came from it.

“Fubuki-kun?”

Hiroto’s voice rang from behind him and he turns over.

“Is something wrong?” he asks, clearly concerned.

“Oh, it’s nothing.” Fubuki lies through his teeth. Ever since the start of the FFI, lying has become so much more easier for him, he suddenly realizes.

Fubuki tunes out Hiroto’s reply as he lowers his head to try and sense for anything else. But when his effort proves to be fruitless, he stops and heaves a little sigh. He puts his towel and bottle of water down before standing up and getting back to practice.

Nothing else out of the ordinary happens when he resumes practice. Well, that is until morning practice ended. He was about to go back into the lodge to relax when he felt something tackle him from behind. When he turned around, the first thing he saw was a grinning Tooru with her hands behind her back, the second thing was Kobayashi standing beside her, and the third thing was Kanna hugging him from behind.

Fubuki lets out a squeak in surprise and it’s enough to attract the attention of everyone else on the field and on the stairs.

Oh no.

“T-Tooru, Kanna...?” he whisper-shouted.

“It’s been a while!” Tooru says excitedly. She had her tail hidden but not her large horns. Kobayashi waves from her spot beside Tooru.

“It’s been a while, Shirou-sama.” Kanna says politely as she lets go of him and takes a step back. She has all of her dragon features hidden from view, as she’s used to blending in with humans.

“It’s really been a while, but was there a need to have a surprise visit...?” Fubuki asks. He gets Tooru’s giggle as a reply.

On the stairs, Kidou observes and after a moment, whispers to himself.

“How did they get in without us noticing...?” Gouenji hears and continues to keep a keen eye on the three newcomers.

“It’s the holidays for both Kanna and Kobayashi, so it was perfect!”

“Well, it was more like I’m too worried to let these two come alone.”

“We would’ve been fine!”

“Knowing you, you would just cause trouble...”

Fubuki giggles a little at their sudden banter until he switches his attention to Kanna. He kneels down on the ground so he could be on the same eye level as her.

“Have you been good, Kanna-chan?”

“Mhm!”

Fubuki gently strokes her hair as a reward. She practically melted into his touch. If she had her tail out, it would definitely be wagging happily right now.

“Um, are these your friends?” Kazemaru asks him from behind. He lifts his hand off of Kanna and stands up, brushing small pieces of dirt off of his legs on the way.

“Well, yes...

But let’s do the introductions inside, we still have time before lunch after all.”

* * *

  
“I’m Kobayashi Tooru! This little one is Kobayashi Kanna and...”

“I’m Kobayashi. These two are my cousins. It’s nice to meet you.”

Fubuki is almost surprised at how natural they sound, despite it being a complete lie. A chorus of ‘nice to meet you’s was heard from everyone in the room.

“Where do you all come from?” seems like Kidou was still cautious.

“Japan. Tokyo, to be exact. We’re going back tomorrow afternoon.”

“Just thought to come see him before we go back.” Kobayashi ‘explains’.

“You should’ve told me! I would’ve shown you around the Japan area.” Fubuki goes along with the lie easily. At the corner of his eye, he sees Gouenji’s slight shift of position as he leaned on the wall.

“Yeah, we would’ve shown you around!” Endou exclaims.

“It’s fine, we got some help from the other tourists.”

They started chatting about a lot of things and most of their teammates retreated back to their rooms or to go do their own things. The ones that were left were Kidou, Gouenji, Endou and Kazemaru. Kidou was really the only one keeping his guard up, while the rest seemed pretty relaxed with them.

Fubuki was listening intently to Kanna at one side while Tooru and Kobayashi talked with the rest. They had asked what Tooru’s horns were about and she casually replied that it was just her cosplay. They asked no further. Then Endou proceeded to share with them the -tamer- shenanigans that happened with Inazuma Japan. It was a peaceful sight that Fubuki wished he could see more often.

“Shirou-sama.” Kanna suddenly whispered.

“Hm? What’s wrong, Kanna-chan?” he whispers back.

“Tooru-sama said we can’t be found out, why?” the innocence in her tone makes Fubuki hesitate a second.

“These humans don’t know we exist, that’s why.”

“But aren’t they Shirou-sama’s friends?” Fubuki bites his lower lip and looks anywhere but her eyes.

“It’s just better for them not to know.”

“Okay...” Kanna pouts as she looks at the floor they were sitting on. Fubuki puts his hand on her head.

“I’ll tell them one day, just... not today. So don’t worry.” he musters the gentlest voice he could with the bitterness curling inside his stomach. Kanna gives a little nod in reply.

* * *

  
“What did you drag me here for?” Fubuki was about to go shower after their afternoon practice like the rest of the team, but Tooru, Kanna and Kobayashi decided they wanted a little talk beforehand. Tooru was looking at him with glittering eyes and he already has a feeling it wasn’t going to end well.

“Shirou-san, are you in love?” Tooru asks excitedly and Fubuki has to resist the urge to curse. A blush creeps up and decides to settle on his cheeks the moment he thinks about who Tooru is implying.

“So you are! Who is it!?” Fubuki looks away from her and doesn’t intend to reply until Kanna decides to speak.

“Is it that fire one with really spiky blond hair?” Fubuki flinches and his cheeks turn another shade redder.

Bullseye.

“I can understand, he seems popular!” Tooru exclaims with a lilt in her voice.

‘No,’ Fubuki wants to reply, ‘you don’t understand, it’s impossible to not fall for someone that pulled you away from the darkness and into the light.’ but he decides to keep that to himself.

“But, he’s a human, right?” Kanna asks. It certainly dampens the mood, even if she didn’t mean it.

“Yes...”

“Is that why you’re having trouble with it?” Tooru asks much much more quietly and Fubuki nods in response. He keeps his head lowered after his nod. Tooru seems to have trouble coming up with a response as well.

“I don’t know if it’s okay for me to intrude,” Kobayashi, who was quiet throughout the conversation until now finally decides to speak up. Fubuki lifts his gaze and looks at Kobayashi before giving her a nod, signaling for her to go on.

“But even if he’s a human, as long as he understands the differences and similarities between humans and dragons... as long as he tries to overcome it and stay with you, won’t it work out?”

Fubuki is silent as he lets it sink in. Tooru suddenly does a 180 degree turn in mood.

“Yeah, Kobayashi is right! I mean, if we could somehow work it out,” Tooru goes to hold Kobayashi’s hand in hers. “then you, a dragon that understands and is used to humans much more than us, can definitely make it work too!” Fubuki opens his mouth to retort, but in the end closes it without letting out a sound.

“I appreciate the add-on, Tooru, but what was that first part supposed to mean?” Kobayashi asks, amusement obvious in her voice. Tooru giggles in reply and tightens the hold she has on Kobayashi’s hand.

Kanna tugs on Fubuki’s shirt to get his attention. He turns to see her giving him an expression that clearly says ‘You can do it!’. He pats her head as a way of thanks for her encouragement.

* * *

  
Gouenji wasn’t the type to suddenly be unable to sleep. But for some reason or another he was fully awake now, despite his body feeling the fatigue from their extra hard training today. Steadily putting on the Inazuma Japan jacket, he decides to go outside for a walk to try and clear his mind.

The moment he steps out of the lodge, he spots Fubuki sitting on the bench down on the field. Curiosity taking over, he quietly goes down the stairs to meet him. Gouenji calls out to him as he approaches which causes Fubuki to jerk his head up and turn around. He seemed surprised before giving Gouenji a smile and gesturing for him to sit beside him. He takes the offer.

“Why are you out here so late?” Fubuki asks first.

“That’s a question I could ask you.”

Fubuki lets out one of his nervous laughs. “I saw a strange dream, so now I can’t sleep. What about you?”

“Can’t sleep.”

“I see. But you should sleep soon, can’t have exhaustion building up.”

“That goes for you too.” Fubuki laughs nervously again.

“I’ll be fine, so don’t worry.”

“Fubuki...”

“Really, I’ll be fine.” Fubuki shuts down the topic there and it becomes silent. Gouenji notices that Fubuki seemed restless, if him fiddling with his fingers is anything to go by.

“Fubuki.”

“Hm?”

“Do you want to tell me something?” Gouenji reads him like an open book. Fubuki is surprised at the accusation and takes a moment to compose himself. Gouenji waits patiently.

“Can you promise me something beforehand...?” Fubuki’s words seemed hesitant and he stopped right after he asked the question, so Gouenji prompted him to go on.

“Please don’t change.” Gouenji raises an eyebrow at his vague promise, but agrees anyway. Fubuki looks away from him and stares at the field, his hands holding the edge of the bench they were sitting on.

Nothing happens for a moment, the only sound in the air was the gentle and cold wind blowing. Gouenji stared as Fubuki suddenly looked downwards, staring into the floor. Gouenji couldn’t read Fubuki right now, as much as he wants to.

The silence is broken by Fubuki’s quiet whisper, as if trying to mask it using the wind.

“I’m not human.”

Gouenji’s hand freezes in the air, right above Fubuki’s trembling hand.

“Wha-?”

“I’m not human.” He reiterates, this time slightly louder and unsteady. The moonlight wasn’t enough for Gouenji to see Fubuki’s expression hidden behind his bangs.

“Then wh-”

“Dragon.”

Gouenji stops for a moment before pressing further. “By Dragon...”

“Monsters that can use magic, and is feared even by gods.”

For once in his lifetime, Gouenji was speechless. He was about to retract his hand, but he noticed that Fubuki was trembling even more. At that moment, something clicked and he places his hand on top of his. Fubuki jerks his head up in surprise and turns to see him, Gouenji had a little smile on his face.

“I can’t understand if you’re being so vague.” He teases as he gently squeezes Fubuki’s hand. Fubuki widens his eyes in understanding and looked like he was holding back tears.

“If you don’t understand, I’ll just show you.” Fubuki says as he turns away, but Gouenji notices his voice being back to its usual tone.

Fubuki’s hand slips out of the hold as he stands up and takes a few steps forward. He raises a hand and a light blue hemisphere shield covered the entire field. He turns around and stands there, waiting for Gouenji to approach. He stands up and walks pass the shield easily to join him. He looks at Fubuki before giving him a firm nod.

The ends of Fubuki’s smile twist into a smirk before a strange white magical circle appeared in front of him. His form is consumed by white light before it starts to morph into something much, much bigger. A second later, in front of Gouenji was a pure white, twin-headed dragon that was as tall as a single-storey house. Each head had a pair of frozen devil horns along with a powder blue underbelly and numerous pieces of ice lining from the middle of its back until the near end of its tail. It extended its wings and the first thing Gouenji notices is the beautiful light blue that dyed the tips of the large set of wings.

His was scared for a second until he reminded himself that this was Fubuki. He was showing his greatest secret to him and honestly it made him _happy_. He was happy that Fubuki trusted him so much to show him this.

Fubuki’s two heads lowered down to peer at him. Those eyes were the same eyes he’s known, just more sharp and reptilian. He slowly raises his hand to give Fubuki a chance if he wanted to pull back, but the dragon doesn’t and his hand gently brushes the glittering scales on his snout. The scales weren’t as cold as ice, but were still cool to the touch.

“Are my scales that comfortable?” The other head opens its mouth, but it seemed as if the words that came out were fueled by magic. (It probably was magic, but he’ll confirm that later)

Gouenji doesn’t answer but instead gives his snout one last firm pat before drawing his hand back. He smiles and Fubuki does his best to smile back, which turns into a cute face that only loosely looked like how a smile was supposed to look, causing Gouenji to burst into laughter that he stifles with his hand.

Fubuki pouts before the same circle appears and a second later, he’s back to his human form. Though he still had the horns and tail attached to him. Gouenji thought it looked adorable.

“Now do you understand?”

“I kind of get it, but you might need to explain in detail.”

Fubuki lets out a breath as he covered himself and Gouenji in a light blue aura of some sort then deactivated the large shield. He lead them back to the bench, this time much more relaxed than before. Gouenji looks at his hands wrapped in a layer of light blue aura.

“This is...?”

“Perception blocking magic. Just to make sure no one sees us while I’m like this.” he answers casually as he sits down on the bench, which Gouenji also does.

“Actually, do you need anything to use your magic...?” Here comes the questioning session.

“Yes. We need mana to channel our magic and sometimes our strength too. Though different worlds contain different amount of mana in the air.”

“Then,”

“There isn’t much here, but I’m able to absorb the water vapor in the air and change it into mana.”

“I see... Wait, how strong are you?”

“Hm... well, I don’t think you can compare it to anything? I only know that to be on the same level as everyone else, I’ve sealed away 95% of my strength, just so I won’t be caught by Kudou or anyone else.”

“Wait, wait. We’re only 5% of your total strength!?” Fubuki nods and Gouenji tries to imagine the strength at 100%, but fails to do so.

“I don’t think you can acknowledge that without me showing you, but I don’t want to destroy Liocott or any other islands...” Gouenji stares at him in disbelief and tells him to continue explaining something else.

“Ah, we also don’t really need sleep, or at least not as much as humans do.” Gouenji nods and realizes ‘oh so that’s why he said he would be fine.’ Fubuki lets Gouenji absorb for a minute before continuing.

“We can actually live... longer than this planet can. A hundred years isn’t long, it’s too short.” Fubuki looked away and downwards and dug his fingernails into the wooden bench.

A moment passes as Fubuki gathers himself by taking deep breaths, moving his hand from the bench to his lap, and lifting his head. It takes a while before he starts speaking again.

“There’s three fractions for dragons. The Harmony fraction, the Chaos fraction and the Neutral fraction. Harmony dragons protect humans and maintain order, Chaos dragons range from wanting to rule the world to destroying it, and Neutral dragons are, as it suggests, don’t partake in the War and just do their own thing.”

“The war...?”

“In that world, the War has been going on ever since a long time ago. The Harmony dragons are naturally, against the Chaos dragons. But some of the gods are teaming up with the humans to go against them too. It’s... kind of complicated over there.”

Gouenji nods in reply before pausing.

“... What fraction do you belong to?” he asks hesitantly. Fubuki remains silent and his tail freezes in place.

“... Chaos.”

Oh.

“Yeah. It’s part of why I didn’t want to tell everyone.” wait, he said that out loud?

“To answer your question, yes.” Gouenji stares at him.

“Are you reading my mind?” Fubuki laughs.

“No, it’s just easy to tell from your eyes.” Gouenji didn’t notice when had Fubuki turned to look at him, but he’s just now realized that the ‘read like an open book’ thing goes both ways.

“Is there anything else I should know?” he hurriedly changes the topic. Fubuki hums in thought before remembering something.

“Oh! My name is actually just Shirou. ‘Fubuki’ is kind of a... title? My entire family seems to have it because of our strength, so they must’ve turned it into a surname for human use.”

Gouenji stops, debating with himself if he wanted to be bold in his head, before deciding to just go for it.

“Then can I call you ‘Shirou’ from now on?” a blush flares up on Fubuki’s face and he looks away.

“Well, I don’t mind... But, don’t... use it in front of everyone?”

“Understood.” Gouenji says with a grin on his face. Fubuki gazes back after calming down and smiles back, his tail wagging a little at the corner of Gouenji’s eye.


	2. Day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fubuki thinks about his preference of day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I didn’t want to put an end note at the first chapter because it would carry throughout the entire fic bUT JESUS THAT ONE GOT REALLY, REALLY LONG. I doubt the rest will be as long so please don’t expect much :’D
> 
> (2) Day
> 
> Summary: Fubuki thinks about his preference of day.
> 
> Words: 508
> 
> Warnings/ Notes: Original verse, just some Fubuki ramblings. Reeeaallly short compared to the first one.
> 
> Tags: None?

Under the dark night sky, Fubuki leans against the window sill as he lets his mind wonder while listening to the crickets chirping in the distance. Night always calmed him down easily. Now that he thought about it, he always preferred the silence of night in the past.

At that time, night meant not needing to fight against Atsuya during their matches against Aliea. It meant he could drop the mask he always wore in the day. It meant taking a break from the struggles he faced during the day.

But at the same time, night meant being haunted by nightmares. It meant trying to sleep whilst Atsuya was in his head. In wasn’t all good or bad, he supposed.

Now though, he feels he much preferred the day. Sure in the afternoons the weather could get too hot for him to handle, but he had fun practicing with everyone in Inazuma Japan. The satisfaction after a successful practice session was an incredible feeling for him. (Of course for everyone as well)

Though it’s only at night when he could finally get some rest after a long day. He liked being with his friends, but it got tiring really fast with their hyper- unending-energy. He liked being by himself sometimes, though not too much. His mind could go everywhere and think about some things that he preferred to not dwell so much on.

Like his mistakes during practice. It was starting to happen a bit more often lately, now that he noticed. Why? He was taking care of himself properly, so it shouldn’t increase at such an alarming rate...

Kidou always said that everyone makes mistakes, and he understands what he means, then why can’t he apply it to himself? Gouenji always said that he was too harsh on himself, (which is true, a part of him replies) but he always feels that he can do better, that he just can’t reach his own expectations.

But why? It just didn’t make sense to him no matter how much he thought about it. He was doing fine, he should be fine. So _why_? W-

A hand suddenly resting on his shoulder jerks him back to reality. His body tenses as he turns around, but relaxes a little at the sight of Gouenji. Fubuki takes a deep breath to stop his quickly beating heart.

“Endou and the others are playing cards downstairs. Care to join?” Gouenji asks as he retracts his hand. What he said seemed dismissive of Fubuki’s previous state of mind, but his eyes told him what was unsaid.

“I think I’ll just watch.” Fubuki says with a small smile. Gouenji gets his message quickly and nods before heading out of the room first. Fubuki just stands there for a second as he composes his mind. Gouenji turns back to look at him, waiting for him in the corridor.

He lets out a small breath, releases the tension in his shoulders and reforms his small smile before following Gouenji out of the room, closing the door behind him.


	3. Reason

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (3) Reason
> 
> Summary: Fubuki’s been going back to his room early lately. Gouenji is worried.  
> Words: 852  
> Warnings/ Notes: Headcanons X10000 in here. I was supposed to do a double chapter bc of Goufubu day but I clearly did not Make It In Time so, have this in the meantime  
> Tags: Mutually unrequinted crush,

Fubuki’s not really staying to talk recently, Gouenji notices.

It’s a thing they do everyday. After dinner, they would sit around in the large living room playing games or just chat before they all have to go to bed. The games they played ranged from just playing cards to sometimes full-blown Uno. (which always ends up in a huge mess) Though recently they just chatted more than playing games.

Today, They were sharing experiences and the like when Fubuki suddenly stood up, dusted his shorts and excused himself. He headed up the stairs towards their rooms.

Gouenji looked at the stairs where Fubuki was climbing about a minute ago. He knows that Fubuki can take care of himself, but to say he wasn’t worried would be a lie. He was in thought until he felt a hand on his shoulder.

He turns around to see the owner of the hand, Someoka, with Hiroto and Kazemaru standing beside him. They said nothing, but Gouenji understood the look on their faces and nodded before excusing himself to follow Fubuki. Toramaru looked like he wanted to object to Gouenji’s departure, but Kidou stopped him from doing anything further.

Gouenji decided to search for Fubuki in his room first. He went to his room -which was just beside his own- and gave it a few firm knocks. A moment passed with silence and he was about to go search somewhere else when a small “Come in.” sounded from the other side of the door.

He twisted the doorknob and opened the door to see Fubuki sitting at the wooden desk, an opened book in front of him and a pen in hand. He looked surprised to see him, but recovered and gestured for Gouenji to sit on the bed. Gouenji did so obediently after closing the door and Fubuki closed the book, placed the pen down before turning around, moving the chair a little closer before straddling it.

“Why did you come find me?” Fubuki starts casually, placing his hands on the top of the chair and putting his chin on top of it.

“You’re leaving early recently, so I was wondering if you were all right...” Fubuki widens his eyes for a second, closes them and reopens a second later.

“I’m fine, Gouenji-kun.” he hesitates before opening his mouth again. “The reason is embarrassing though.”

“Embarrassing?”

“Don’t laugh, okay?” Gouenji nods.

“I’ve been coming back early to write, in my journal.” Fubuki says as he glances at the closed book on the desk and Gouenji follows his gaze.

“I see.” true to his word, Gouenji didn’t laugh.

“A journal is good for keeping track of things, it’s good for mental health too, I heard.” he didn’t think it was embarrassing at all. Fubuki nods in reply.

“But don’t forget that everyone in Inazuma Japan is here for you.” Gouenji suddenly reminds out of nowhere. Fubuki looked surprised for a second before it melts into a small smile.

“Thank you, Gouenji-kun.”

The room dissolves into a comfortable silence after their conversation. Fubuki was looking downwards as Gouenji continued to observe him. Now that he had a closer look, he noticed Fubuki’s build was really small. Despite eating the same as everyone else, he seemed to be thinner than everyone else.

“Um, Gouenji-kun.” Fubuki suddenly speaks up.

“What is it?” Gouenji replies as he watches Fubuki. Fubuki continues staring downwards as he talks, as if trying to make holes in the ground.

“Why... do you care...?” Gouenji is caught by surprise and looks towards Fubuki’s eyes. Those teal-gray eyes hinted of frustration, confusion and... something else. Something unreadable to him.

“Because you’re my friend, Fubuki.” Merely a friend his mind echoes, as if trying to drill the fact into his own mind. His words seem to get through to him, if him widening his eyes in surprise was anything to indicate from.

Fubuki closes his eyes briefly, lets out a breath before opening them again. This time, Gouenji could see that the smile was a true, genuine one.

“Thank you, Gouenji-kun.”

They drift into another silence until they heard a bunch of footsteps coming from the hallway outside. Taking a glance at the clock, they both knew it was time for them to go to sleep.

Gouenji stands up and automatically walks to the door. He lets his hand linger on the doorknob, waiting to see if Fubuki had anything else to say. Fubuki didn’t say anything, he just merely followed Gouenji’s form with his eyes.

Accepting the silence as an answer, Gouenji turns around. They give each other a ‘good night’ before Gouenji closes the door behind him as he goes out, probably going back to his own room.

Fubuki stands up and keeps his things before changing into his pajamas. He flops onto the bed, completely crumpling the bed sheets in the process. He stared at the ceiling before using the back of his hand to cover his eyes as his face finally showed the blush he was hiding. He closed his eyes before slowly muttering to himself-

“I like you so much it’s scary.”


	4. Vision

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fubuki can see them, and knows things he shouldn’t, but he keeps quiet and tells no one.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Words: 1267  
> Warnings/ Notes: Hi, yes hello I promise I still love these two. This contains A Bunch of headcanons and also some minor own characters(?)!! I'm reeeally late but happy Goufubu day! ><;  
> Tags: Original verse, ghosts, referenced character death, crush,

Their living space is too small for everyone. He’s thought about this when they were still in the previous lodge and didn’t even go past the preliminaries, but even now in the large lodge in the special Japan area in Liocott Island, it’s still not enough.

He narrowly dodges a stranger on the way to the fields, choosing to instead standing still and letting the guy walk pass as he looked around. Aside from the usual, there’s a lot of people today too. They are all watching from behind the high fences, not like fences could keep them out anyway, but he knows it’s their way of being polite.

“Fubuki?” Hiroto turns around and calls out, making Shirou jolt back to reality. He blinks and turns to Hiroto.

“It’s nothing,” he says and catches up to him and Kazemaru, sparing a glance at the two figures standing at the side. Mr. and Mrs. Kiyama are kind and also sort of became his secret foster parents in a sense, so he gives them a little smile. The two smile back and Mr. Kiyama raises a fist as a way to tell him to stay strong.

Practice starts, and Shirou gives his full attention in trying to improve his shoots. He may be a defender most of the time, but it doesn’t mean he doesn’t need to practice being a striker as well. He shoots and the ball goes toward the corner of the net, but Tachimukai catches it. With a bit of frustration, he goes behind Gouenji and waits for his turn again.

“You almost got it!” a familiar shout comes from the benches, and Shirou only nods a little in answer to it.

The rest of practice goes like this, going through the motions of the basics until the whole team showed visible signs of exhaustion. Shirou may be as tired as the rest, but the encouragement that only he can hear fuels him with determination.

But unfortunately, Kudou calls for a break.

He obeys, swipes a towel and his drink, and plops down on an empty bench a distance away. He’s given time to get a few mouthfuls of water until the familiar voice appears beside him.

“You did well,” the voice says, and Shirou turns to look Mrs. Gouenji with a little smile on her face. She looked like she didn’t age one bit from the photograph Gouenji had shown him that one time, and for good reason.

He smiles and turns to look at the rest of the team on another bench a distance away. “I guess so,” he whispers as he wipes the sweat off his face with the towel.

“Improving takes time, Fubuki-kun,” she says, her hands together and placed on her lap. “You’re being too hard on yourself.”

“That’s what Gouenji-kun keeps saying,” he whispers with a bit of frustration as he hangs the towel on the back of his neck and takes a few more drinks of his water.

“And Shuuya is right,” she says, her scolding voice somehow has a hint of fondness in it. “you need to listen to your crush more.”

Shirou feels his face heat up and almost chokes on his water, covering his mouth and instead slowly swallowing in small amounts. He really doesn’t appreciate her reminding him the fact that she knows he has a crush on her son.

“Please don’t call him that,” he replies with his hand still on his mouth.

“She’s not wrong though?” another voice says behind him, on the verge of laughter. Shirou glances to the rest of the team to make sure no one’s paying attention to him.

“Mr. Kogure, please don’t,” he whispers back, and a hint of Kogure’s signature laughter is heard from the grown man.

“Oh, is Fubuki being teased again?” another voice appears in front of him along with a short and old woman. He makes sure to look her in the eye as he speaks.

“Mrs. Endou, please save me,” he says, completely serious. Endou’s grandmother lets out gentle laughter with a hand covering her mouth.

“I understand the need to tease this boy as much as you do, but please don’t make him look weird to the rest of the team,” she says, and he questions how this went from scolding his hindering perfectionism to teasing him with his apparently obvious crush.

“But really, when are you confessing? How many times do I need to tell you that Shuuya definitely feels the same way?” Mrs. Gouenji asks, disappearing from beside him and appearing right in front of his face.

“I don’t know,” Shirou says, “I don’t think I’m brave enough no matter what you say.”

“Oh, come on! Do we have to help set you two up or something?” Mr. Kogure says, floating into his sight with his hands thrown dramatically in the air.

“Please don’-”

“Fubuki? Are you okay?” as if things can’t get any worse, the subject of his recent anxiety decides to approach him. Gouenji takes a seat beside him, making sure not to invade his space. And while he appreciates it, it really doesn’t help when he feels the expectant gazes glued on him.

“I’m fine,” he says, finally taking away the hand covering his mouth. “just choked on water.”

Gouenji doesn’t look convinced in the slightest. “If you say so,” he says, a hint of... frustration? in his tone.

Shirou tries his best not to pay attention to him and the gazes still on him, instead watching the rest of the team chatting away. He’s trying so hard to push his attention away that he almost doesn’t hear Gouenji call his name.

“Hey, Fubuki?”

“Hm?” he lets out while trying his best not to react to the adults making grand gestures in front of him that he can’t exactly understand.

“Do you ever wonder how the people who’ve passed are doing?” Gouenji asks, his tone is rarely this sad, and it takes Shirou a second to recover from surprise. He looks over to Gouenji, and sees the sadness reflecting from his eyes.

He feels the temperature drop, and he knows the reason why, seeing as Mrs. Gouenji reaches over him to hover her hand above Gouenji’s shoulder. Shirou clenches his teeth, if nothing else to stop himself from saying anything he shouldn’t.

To Gouenji, Shirou doesn’t know anything about his mother. His mother passed away when Gouenji was still little, and he doesn’t know that she has been following her family ever since. He doesn’t know how proud she is of him representing Japan, how glad she is that Gouenji’s father didn’t force him to do something he didn’t want to, how happy she is that he’s grown and gained so many friends.

He doesn’t know any of it, and Shirou can’t tell him any of it. But maybe, he can...

“She would be proud,” he says, lifting his lips into a gentle smile. The hovering hand is retracted and he feels the cold seeping away. The temperature rises to how it should be, and along with it, something else returns.

“Yeah, yeah. She would.” Gouenji looks over, the rare sadness gone from his eyes and instead replaced with something else that burns like fire.

A whistle blasts through the air, and they go back to practice. Mrs. Gouenji is sitting on the bench when Shirou stands up, and he isn’t afraid to give her a smile.

She smiles back, and calls out with her hands cupped around her mouth. “Go get them!”

Shirou goes back to training, and breaks through Tachimukai’s defense before the sun sets.


End file.
